When he was just a little tyke, my (now 10 year old) grandson, Rivers, called the window greenhouse in my kitchen his “jungle.” Over the years our jungle has grown significantly and is a source of constant pleasure, particularly during the cold months when it’s difficult to garden outside.
I have to admit that I have not always liked houseplants. It seems to me that plants belong outside, under the sky, experiencing the elements. But then I inherited a host of plants from loved ones who died and received several cool plants as gifts. And after I filled my front porch with potted plants one spring, I could not bear to throw them away in the fall, so gradually I became an indoor gardener too.
And actually, I love it. Especially sharing the jungle with Rivers. This is where we can experiment. Rivers will periodically add to the jungle by suggesting we dig up various and sundry plants outside, put them in a pot and bring them into the jungle. I’m usually game but never know what to expect. A 4 foot stalk of butterfly lily lasted about a month but provided a dramatic backdrop for the jungle while it lasted. As it began to die back, I quietly replanted it outside. Elephant ears thrived during the warm months but, somehow knowing that it was time to sleep, began to go dormant as the days got shorter.
This, too, is where we can practice multiplication. We divided a huge rabbit foot fern (which Rivers calls the tarantula plant) and potted up the divisions to give away as Christmas gifts. We took cuttings from an 18 year old lucky bamboo, put it in water and watched roots form in a matter of days. We took cuttings from the Christmas cactus, stuck them in water to take root and watched in amazement as a cutting put forth a single, perfect bloom this year.
When we decorating the Christmas tree several years ago, and I pulled out precious glass ornaments in the shape of dragonflies and hummingbirds, Rivers
said that they should be in our jungle. So, we hung them from fishing line and they add a touch of the exotic year round to the jungle.
Of course all of these are wonderful lessons for Rivers but more than that, it’s a chance for me to share something living and growing with this child. I just hope that as he gets caught up in the inevitable rush of things – soccer, school, friends, phones, computers, video games and on and on – that he’ll remember our jungle as a place of unending fun and beauty.